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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23056690">Faith, Trust and a Little Pixie Dust</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quildosse/pseuds/Quildosse'>Quildosse</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Fairy Tail</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Action/Adventure, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Magic, Other Additional Tags to Be Added</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 06:48:16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>11,529</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23056690</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quildosse/pseuds/Quildosse</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>He hadn't meant getting involved with the newly created team. But when Titania, Queen of the Fairies, told you to do something... You did it, no questions asked. Even if that involved having to face off against various dark guilds, demons, and dragons on a regular basis. Though in the end, that's what Fairy Tail does best, right?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>The Kingdom of Fiore... A neutral country of seventeen million people. It is a world of magic. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Magic is bought and sold there every day. It is an integral part of people's lives. And there are those who use magic as their occupation. These people are referred to as mages. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>The mages belong to various guilds and perform jobs on commission. There are a large number of guilds within the country. And in a certain city, there lies a certain guild. A guild from which various legends were once born... Or rather, will continue to be born long into the future... And its name: Fairy Tail! </em>
</p>
<hr/><p>He was at the request board when the guild hall's doors are kicked open with a loud bang, and Natsu comes stomping in, yelling about something or other. In the blink of an eye, one of their famous Fairy Tail brawls was underway.</p><p>After having to duck the second chair thrown in his direction in less than a minute, Masa decides that choosing a job in this chaos was a lost cause and starts making his way to the bar for a preferably alcoholic drink instead. At the rate the fight was progressing people will start going airborne soon too, and he'd prefer not to be accidentally crushed underneath one of his guildmates as it so often happened to visitors.</p><p>His decision was proven correct when Elfman goes flying into the board almost the instant he steps away, barely missing him by a few inches. Masa glances back to make sure the man was relatively unhurt, and when the larger man rushes right back into the thick of the fight despite the blood dripping down his face, he continues on his way unconcerned. It wasn't his problem if anyone winds up in the infirmary. He'd stopped trying to prevent those morons from going overboard years ago.</p><p>"Hey, watch it!" He scowls at the two men who rolled under his feet while trying to strangle each other, and steps over them ignoring the resulting shrieks of pain when he unintentionally tramples on some of their fingers.</p><p>Generally, walking from the request board to the bar barely took a minute, but during their fights, it could take up to fifteen. Being forced to avoid grappling heaps of people and various flying objects, both inanimate and breathing, could slow anyone down considerably. Even for Jet, their resident speedster, it was impossible to get across the hall rapidly. So when yet another pile of broken furniture impedes his path, his eyebrow twitches in irritation, and his hands start crackling with electricity menacingly.</p><p>"This is getting very annoying." He growls aggravated, dodging a half-full mug of beer.</p><p>Only, before he could relieve his rising anger by joining the fight and teaching his fellow guild members a lesson, the hall suddenly darkens.</p><p>"Stop this, you fools!" Their giant Master demands, his voice thundering throughout the building.</p><p>The silence is immediate and total. Nobody dared move from their frozen position, no matter how uncomfortable or unstable, for fear of attracting the old man's attention.</p><p>Except for Mirajane, as always. She had balls of steel, really, and sometimes, Masa thought she was manlier than even her brother. Especially in instants like those when she fearlessly approached their enraged Master with that big smile of hers on her innocent-looking face while everyone else was petrified in terror.</p><p>"Oh, you were here, Master?" She asks.</p><p>"Master?!" An unfamiliar blond girl exclaims, and he blinks, startled. Did they get a new member and nobody told him? Or did he forget again? His hand drifts towards his pocket, brushing against the book hidden within.</p><p>While he's busy raking his memory trying to recall if he's ever seen the girl, Natsu ends up crushed under the Master's foot by stupidly trying to proclaim his victory thanks to everyone having been scared stiff by their leader's arrival.</p><p>The girl's terrified squeak brings the Master's attention to her. "A new recruit, are we?"</p><p>She whimpered out an agreement, and Masa sight in relief, glad he hadn't forgotten anything important again. Not that it had happened recently, but he preferred not to be blindsided by one of his episodes again. It's been a while, and he was due for one soon.</p><p>The Master shrinks down to his usual tiny size and raises a hand in greeting, suddenly smiling like a fool. "Glad to have you on-board!"</p><p>"Now, he's tiny!" The girl exclaims in response. "And wait, if you're the Master..."</p><p>"That's right," Mirajane interjects when she trails off uncertain. "this is Fairy Tail's guild Master, Makarov-sama."</p><p>The man turns to jump up on the second floor's balcony railing, and they all obediently gather underneath, ready for the upcoming lecture. Masa gets comfortable by leaning against one of the nearby and only surviving tables and looks up, crossing his arms over his chest. Depending on how pissed their Master was, this could take a while. For example, the previous week he'd yelled only a for a few minutes, but for the one before that, it had taken almost three hours before they were free to go.</p><p>Makarov coughs into his fist once and begins. "You've gone and done it again, rascals! Look at all the paperwork the council sent me! They're all complaints!" Truly, the pile he waves around was very large, and Masa once again, as he did every time, praised all the gods he knew he was not the one in charge of doing it. He'd never get it done. "All you fools do is make the council angry at me! However," Here, the paper burst into flames. "screw the council!"</p><p>The Master throws the flaming ball, and Natsu gleefully catches it midair with his mouth for a snack. Everyone straightens in pride, knowing what came next. After all, this was a regular occurrence.</p><p>"Listen up!" Makarov unnecessarily calls. They were all paying attention already. "Magic is an unreasonable power, but it is born from reason! It is not some miraculous ability. It is the combination of the spirit that flows within us with the spirit that flows within nature itself, incarnated into physical form! It takes a strong mind and focus! In fact, magic is the pouring out of one's entire soul! One cannot progress in the way of magic by being mindful of the watchful eye from above! Be not afraid of those fools on the council! And follow the path you believe in! That's what it means to be a Fairy Tail mage!"</p><p>The cheer that rises after that speech was deafening as everyone lifts their fingers in their Guild sign high into the air following their Master's example.</p><p>Masa eyes the new blond and smiles amused. Her astounded, but glowing from excitement face was quite the sight, indeed. Though to be fair, everyone reacted like that the first time. He did it, Natsu did it… Hell, Erza did it.</p>
<hr/><p>He doesn't think of the girl again until the next time Masa spots her, several days later in the company of Erza, Gray, Natsu, and Happy. He fleetingly wonders what they were doing all together since the boys were famous for not getting along, but quickly concentrates back on other things.</p><p>The train station he was going to use seemed to have been shut because of a train derailment. It was rather unfortunate as he had been hoping to get home earlier than expected from his job, and now it seemed he would not be getting the nice and hot bath he'd been yearning for anytime soon. Didn't he deserve one after spending so much time trying not to drown in a swamp? It felt as if every single mosquito for miles around had attempted to eat him alive.</p><p>After loitering in the crowd for a short while, he was just about to approach a guard hoping to offer his help when he notices Erza nearing one too, and veers in her direction. The headbutt she gives the poor man after exchanging a few words makes him wince in sympathy, and reconsider his route. Only after she starts repeating the process with the remaining guards did he starts realizing there might be something more happening than a simple train derailment. Even Erza would not be that angry at simply being delayed.</p><p>Hands stuffed in the pockets of his cargo pants, he nonchalantly wanders over towards her meekly waiting companions at the side of the station's main building, instead.</p><p>"Masa! What are you doing here?" Gray exclaims when he notices him.</p><p>He shrugs in response. "Just returning from a job. Is something wrong?"</p><p>"There's this dark guild, Eisenwald, led by the God of Death, Erigor, who found a dangerous ancient magic flute called Lullaby and are going to use it for something." The girl explains in one breath, strange gold and silver keys clinking on her belt.</p><p>"<em>The</em> Lullaby?" He repeats in disbelief.</p><p>"You know what it is?"</p><p>"I helped Levy research about Death magic once or twice. Lullaby is the flute whose sound kills anyone who hears it, right? One of Zeref's earlier creations? It was said to have been sealed behind powerful wards to prevent it from being used."</p><p>"That is correct," Erza confirms, having returned. "I'm afraid a man called Kage broke through them." She pauses to peer at him in relief. "I'm glad you're here, Masa, you will be much help. Let's go, Eisenwald is inside."</p><p>Not one to argue with Titania, the Queen of Fairies, he willingly follows after the others into the station, leaving a group of guards lying unconscious behind them.</p><p>As they run through the large corridor, Erza explains that an army platoon had stormed in earlier, but hasn't returned yet and that they have likely engaged the dark guild in battle. Unfortunately, with the quiet in the station, Masa doubted they succeeded in their endeavor.</p><p>Sure enough, soon after she finished talking, they come across the brave men.</p><p>They were scattered around on some stairs and further into the next passageway, having been obviously trying to put up a fight before being completely wiped out.</p><p>He wished he could feel surprised. While no doubt well-trained for non-magic users, they had been up against an entire dark guild full of mages known for taking assassination jobs. They probably knew from the beginning they had no chance but did their duty anyways, though it had predictably ended in a massacre. Now, they were undoubtedly dead and not merely unconscious as his companions appeared to believe.</p><p>He pauses next to a soldier sitting slumped against a column, and kneels next to him, shifting his neck for easier access. As he had thought, there was no pulse, and judging by the markings, the unfortunate boy had been viciously strangled to death. Like most of the others, he had been killed in a surprisingly bloodless manner, judging by the lack of blood decorating the halls.</p><p>For a short moment, he debates telling the rest. Then, Erza calls for him to hurry up, and he abruptly realizes what a bad idea that would be. If they were lucky, the only city to be obliterated in their anger would be this one. And if luck wasn't with them?</p><p>He throws the dead men a pitying glance before hurrying forwards. It simply wasn't worth it. There was no need to cause their Master a heart attack when he saw the inevitable damage bill.</p><p>Soon, they leave the corridors and enter a spacious room filled to the brim with sniggering Eisenwald mages, causing him to discreetly search around for escape routes. Despite his absolute confidence in the skills of Gray, Natsu, and Erza, there were still a lot more adversaries that he had been expecting. If Eisenwald had several more mages even half as powerful as their ace was rumored to be, then they were in trouble.</p><p>"I knew you'd come. You Fairy Tail flies!" Laughs the man Masa assumes to be the famed God of Death. Honestly, he was not impressed. Not only he was half-naked, but that giant scythe of his looked like he was compensating for something.</p><p>The blond girl - he really should learn her name sometimes soon - drops Natsu and desperately attempts to wake him up by shaking him.</p><p>"Not a chance." Happy tells her. "Trains, four-wheelers, Lucys... It's motion sickness times three!"</p><p>What's a Lucys? Masa furrows his eyebrows in confusion. He's never heard of such a type of transportation, but it would explain why the girl had carried the unconscious boy the entire way on her back. He had assumed Erza had knocked him out again because he's annoyed her too much begging for a fight or had argued with Gray a little too often for her tastes, but motion sickness could knock him out just as easily.</p><p>"So, I'm transportation now?!"</p><p>Ah, she's a Lucys. That made a little more sense. He glances towards where Erza was intimidating the dark guild into telling her plans and figures the situation to be quickly heading towards a fight.</p><p>"Here, let me help." He says, dropping down with a sight. His hands glow light green, and he gently pressed them to Natsu's stomach.</p><p>"Masa's magic is one of the best, Lucy!" Happy exclaims.</p><p>The girl stares at the blue cat suspiciously. "Like Erza's magic is pretty?!"</p><p>"No, silly, he can heal!"</p><p>"Isn't that Lost Magic?!" She exclaims, and whirls towards Masa. "And why haven't you helped earlier?"</p><p>"I usually don't get involved unless someone is dying or maimed. Too much work otherwise with all the unnecessary fights Fairy Tail likes to get into. But as we are going to need bigger guns to deal with this, I'm making an exception. It's just this once, though." He warns. "Besides, if I had done this earlier, he'd had run ahead of us and tried fighting the entire guild alone."</p><p>Meanwhile, Erza succeeds in making Eisenwald into boasting about their end goals. It was the problem with most villains. For some reason, they all loved to monologue.</p><p>There is gust of wind, and Erigor flew up using his famed Wind magic to crouch on top of a nearby pole with multiple loudspeakers, grinning gleefully. "What's here at the station?"</p><p>"You plan on broadcasting the Lullaby?" Masa demands incredulously having guessed the plan first.</p><p>The man laughs in response. "I wonder how many thousands of onlookers are gathered around here? And if you increase the volume, it'll reverberate throughout the city. The melody of death, that is!"</p><p>"You plan on making innocent people listen to the flute's lullaby?" Erza glares up at him, stepping closer.</p><p>"It's a purge," Erigor explains condescendingly. "I'm purging the fools who guard their own rights and safety without knowing there are those whose rights have been stolen away. Their sin is living without knowing that this world isn't just. And so… The Shinigami has come to punish them!"</p><p>"Yeah. This guy's gone 'round the bend pretty hard. Pretty sure this is called indiscriminate mass murder." Masa mutters, and Gray makes a sound of agreement from where he was quietly standing, watching the proceedings.</p><p>Lucy plants her hands on her hips disapprovingly. "You're not going to get your rights back by doing something like this. And weren't you thrown out of the league because you did a ton of bad stuff?"</p><p>"Now that we've come this far, we don't want rights anymore. It's power! Those with power can wipe the past clean, and rule the future." Erigor clenches a hand in front of his face, and the blond gives him a disgusted glance.</p><p>"You're a complete idiot, aren't you?" She observes.</p><p>"Too bad for you, flies. You won't get to see the new dark age because you're heading to the afterlife!" One of the Eisenwald mage interrupt and strands of shadows stretch out on the floor to race towards the girl, and under Masa's hands, Natsu twitches.</p><p>And when the shadows lift into the air, swaying like snakes, the dragon slayer flings himself up to deflect the attack. "So that voice <em>was </em>you."</p><p>Masa stands from his crouching position and crosses his hands behind his head, discreetly pooling his magic there. "You two know each other?" He inquires.</p><p>"He beat me up on the train." The pinkette replies nonchalantly, and slams a fist into his palm, grinning wildly. "And there's a whole bunch more of them! This is gonna be fun!"</p><p>"We're just wasting time talking to those idiots. They're not going to change their minds, so we better make the first move." Masa sighs, and flings out several long needles at the dark guild members. "Shock senbon."</p><p>As the men he'd hit crumple to the floor, electrocuted, Erigor crashes through a window, escaping outside, and the rest of his goons' spring forwards with battle cries.</p><p>"Natsu, Gray, you two head after him." Erza orders, reequipping a sword. "As long as you two work together, there's no way you'd lose, even to the 'Death God' Erigor."</p><p>"Aye, sir!" They squeak and run out of the room so fast, they kicked up a cloud of dust behind them.</p><p>Erza turns towards Lucy and him next as he throws more needles at the quickly approaching horde. "After we clean up these guys, we're heading after them too."</p><p>"Just the three of us against this many?" Lucy exclaims.</p><p>"Relax." He tells her. "We're Fairy Tail mages. This will be a piece of cake."</p><p>As if to prove his word right, with a swing of her sword Erza dispatches the closest group of enemies and advances unto the next. Somewhere behind them, he could hear Happy explain to a clueless Lucy how Reequip magic worked, just when the scarlet-haired woman's sword turned into a spear, then into another pair of twin swords.</p><p>Masa also switches tactics, the dark mages now to close for him to use his needles effectively. "Scalpel." He announces, his magic coating his hands in green, slightly glowing, transparent short blades, and throws himself back into the fray.</p><p>"Hah!" One of the men yells triumphantly. "You missed!"</p><p>"Did I?" He calls back over his shoulder and listens to the sound of sudden screams of pain in satisfaction. His blades weren't made for cutting skin, though they could do that too, but for highly accurate incisions necessary for surgeries and anatomical dissections. They could reach inside the body without creating open wounds, thus preventing the risk of infection and to his delight, the creation of large messes. He hated washing blood out of clothes.</p><p>And while they could be used offensively, the blades required concentration and medical knowledge to use them effectively, because of the precision needed to make fatal wounds. His personal favorite method was to cut muscle tissues and tendons, which rendered his opponents immobile without great difficulty from his part. Their relative low power cost was also a big advantage.</p><p>A loud ding momentarily distracts him, and he squints in confusion at the crab-like person that appears in a burst of light. Watching the man rush at the enemy, and cutting not only their hair but their weapons as he passed by with a pair of scissors in each hand, he abruptly recalls the rings hanging on Lucy's belt. "A Celestial mage? And with a golden key too? Now those are rare." He whistles impressed.</p><p>"Hey! Pay attention to us, fly!"</p><p>"Are you certain you want that?" He shoots back at the man who had just tried to take off his head with an ax, and ducking cuts his hamstring tendons. "This is getting irritating. How many more of you are there?"</p><p>But before anyone could answer him, a call echoes in the room. "Circle Sword!"</p><p>Masa yelps, and jumps back to avoid the many flying swords that wipe out all the remaining Eisenwald mages in a single blow. "Maybe a little warning next time, Erza?!"</p><p>The last man standing takes in the carnage, and hurries out of the room, terrified. "I'm not going up against that!"</p><p>Erza turns towards a star-struck Lucy. "He might be heading towards Erigor." She tells her. "Go after him. I'm counting on you!"</p><p>"Right!" Lucy snaps to attention. "Off I go!"</p><p>He's about to follow after the blond, but Erza's wavering form sidetracks him. "Are you alright?" He asks, hands already glowing from a diagnosing spell.</p><p>"Yes. I'm sorry, I must've driven that magic four-wheeler too fast…"</p><p>"Magical exhaustion." Masa cancels his magic regretfully. "Nothing I can do about that, unfortunately."</p><p>"Right." She staggers to a stand. "I'll go warn the people outside. Meanwhile, can you tie up the Eisenwald mages?"</p><p>"Don't push yourself." He cautions but still walks away to search for some rope.</p>
<hr/><p>When Erza finally returns, just as he finally finishes restraining the last of their defeated opponents, she's clutching a wounded arm.</p><p>"What did I tell you?" He scolds. "You're lucky this is an emergency, or I would have let you suffer. Heal."</p><p>"Thank you, Masa." She sits in silence for a moment and then heaves a big sigh. "It looks like we're in big trouble."</p><p>"Yeah?" He glances up from his work. "What went wrong now?"</p><p>Erza grits her teeth in anger. "Erigor is no longer in the station, and he has us surrounded in a magic Wind Wall. We have no way out."</p><p>"That…" He trails off thoughtfully. "is indeed a problem. Maybe one of the Eisenwald members here know how to dispel it?"</p><p>"Excellent idea." Her eyes glint in a worrisome manner, and he hastily backs away when she grabs the nearest man. "Let's start with you."</p><p>The next several minutes explains why absolutely everyone in Fairy Tail, including their Master but not Mirajane, is terrified of their Queen of Fairies. By the time Gray comes skidding back into the room, she's frightening her sixth man into talking, even if they all tell her the same thing; that is was impossible.</p><p>"Erza, Masa!" The ice mage calls from the second-floor balcony.</p><p>"Gray?" Erza asks, still holding her prisoner by his collar. "You're not with Natsu?"</p><p>"We split up. And never mind that now! Eisenwald's real objective is the town down the line from here."</p><p>"Isn't that Clover?" Masa exclaims in shock. "The Guild Masters are having their regular meeting there right now!"</p><p>"So that's what you're planning?" Erza yells at the man in her clutches, incensed, and emitting a horrifying aura like a demon.</p><p>"And with the Wind Wall we can't get out to warn them." Masa muses, twisting the leather cuff bracelet on his arm.</p><p>"There should be someone called Kage in Eisenwald." The woman suddenly recalls. "He's the only one who was able to dispel Lullaby's seal."</p><p>"A Dispeller? If he's the one with the Shadow magic, he must have gone after Gray and Natsu, because I haven't seen him here since they left." He tells her.</p><p>"Then he must still be in the station. We need to find him and capture him." Erza says dropping the man she was interrogating, and starts making her way out of the room again.</p><p>Masa takes one last look around to make sure everyone was incapacitated and unable to move, before following. Once they took down Erigor, the army would be able to collect the rest of the Eisenwald members with little fuss now that they were incapable of resisting the arrest.</p><p>As they move through the halls, the building shakes around them, small pieces of the ceiling raining down on them.</p><p>"Must be Natsu." Gray pants.</p><p>"That idiot," Erza growls. "if he brings the building down on us…"</p><p>Masa interrupts her, pointing. "There's a room there."</p><p>They kick open the door, and when a quick glance proves it empty, they proceed unto the next, continuing in this manner until they come across Natsu about to beat up the man they were searching for.</p><p>Erza speeds up, and Masa forces himself to follow her example. He wasn't as physically inclined as her, and he's already been exhausted before he was recruited into this mission from his previous job, having not slept well because of reoccurring nightmares. Besides, the fight before really hasn't helped.</p><p>"That's enough! We need him!" Erza yells, and the pinkette turns in their direction, confused, only to yell in terror when the woman jumps into the air with a sword raised high.</p><p>"I didn't do nothin' but I'm sorry!" He babbles, arms raised to protect himself, but she blows past, focused on the man slumped on the wall behind him.</p><p>"Dispel the magic Wind Wall, and don't give us any trouble!"</p><p>Natsu whimpers. "She ain't kidding', man! Erza's a <em>beast</em>!"</p><p>But just as Kage reluctantly agrees, an arm emerges from the wall and passes through his chest. "W-why?" He whispers, betrayed, and collapses, revealing the trembling Eisenwald mage that had run away and Lucy had been tasked to find.</p><p>Stunned by the brutality, Masa stands still for a moment, before lurching into action when Kage chokes on blood. "Heal!" He snarls, dropping to his knees and pressing his hands over the wound, frantically trying to contain the bleeding and close the hole by pouring out all of the little magic power he had left into the man's body. There was none of the finesse he usually exhibited in his healing as he resorted to brute-forcing it instead of meticulously mending the ruined flesh back together. "Dammit! Broken ribs, torn lungs… He can't breathe! I need too…"</p><p>"Wasn't he one of your allies? Wasn't he an ally in the same guild as you?! You bastard! So that's what your guild is like?" He vaguely registers Natsu punching the coward as he tries to make his escape by magically sinking back into the wall he came from, but his fatigue at long last catches up to him, and he collapses, slowly fading into unconsciousness.</p><p>He's done everything he could. The man, Kage, will not only live but be able to dispel the Wind Wall, and the others could go save their Master.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I don't own Fairy Tail.</p><p>Anything you recognize is from the manga or anime.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Masa wakes up just in time to watch as the Lullaby transforms in a bright show of purple light from a strange-looking flute with a three-eyes skull for a top to something right out of a nightmare.</p><p>“What the hell?’ He mutters staring up at the giant wooden monster in confusion. “What did I miss?”</p><p>Around him, numerous familiar and unfamiliar guild masters scatter in various directions, giving the most ridiculous excuses to not fight the demon. All of this meant that he somehow made it to Clover so that Dispeller Eisenwald mage must have broken the Wind Wall for the others who probably brought along his unconscious body with them when they left the train station. And while he was grateful he hadn’t been left behind like dead weight, he was now left terribly confused. Why was the flute turning into a monster the size of a mountain? For that matter, where the hell was Erigor? You’d think he would be up there with the demon gloating about the success of his plan in proper villain fashion.</p><p>“I can’t stand it anymore!” The former flute declares, and Masa cringes. Its voice sounded as if a man and a woman were speaking in unison. It was very strange. “I’ll devour them myself! Your souls, that is!”</p><p>The demon leans in to observe the quivering forms of the guild masters, the creaking of its joints reminding Masa of trees bending in the wind. He got to admire Zeref, the Black Wizard might have used his powers for evil, but he really was a genius. This was some damn impressive Living magic.</p><p>“So, which one should I try first?” Said damn impressive piece of Living magic wonders aloud.</p><p>An older man, a bit to the left from Masa, collapses in a dead faint from fright to the surprise of none. They had all noticed the magical tattoo of an open book on his exposed shoulder, the symbol of the Library guild. They were famous for their large collection of old texts and antiques, and general poor fighting skills. One went to the Librarians for translations and research, and very occasionally explorations of newly discovered ruins, not for anything combat-related. They had a bit of a cowardly reputation.</p><p>Lullaby looks up again and sends a beam of energy shooting from its mouth in the direction of a loudly charging army. They must have been the reinforcements sent after Eisenwald or something because they had no business doing here anything otherwise. Thankfully, it misses, though instead… Several more bodies joint the Librarian’s on the ground while the army retreats at full speed.</p><p>“It disappeared. That thing disintegrated the whole mountain.” Someone whispers fearfully.</p><p>“I think we all noticed, thanks,” Masa replies drily and finally shakily climbs out of the magic four-wheeler he had awaken in. In his mind, he starts going through all the spells he knew for one that could help him fight the blasted demon. To his great irritation, he was also quickly discovering that he had absolutely nothing useful for this situation. He was well equipped against regular flesh and blood organisms, but it seemed demons of ages long past were not something his past self had seen fit to prepare himself for. If he survived this, it was the first thing he will rectify. Maybe learn a second type of magic. A couple of spells that will work on non-organic objects at least. </p><p>“Okay, I’ve decided!” Lullaby exclaims, and Masa’s fingers begin crackling with barely contained electricity. Technically, Shock was supposed to be used for restarting hearts, but he had found it worked pretty great as an offensive move too. Though, he didn’t have enough magic to fry the annoyance in front of him on a good day, let alone now, so he wasn’t entirely certain why he was activating the spell. “I’m going to eat <em>all</em> your souls, you pitiful wizards!”</p><p>The demon starts screeching, and with the horrible noise comes this heavy pressure that made it hard to breathe. For a short moment, Masa thinks it had already begun casting its infamous Death magic and clasps his suddenly no longer sparkling hands to his ears in a futile effort to protect himself, but no one drops dead just yet.</p><p>“It’s fucking toying with us.” He hisses aggravated, dropping his hands back down, and watches as his guildmates emerge from another part of the forest.</p><p>Midair, Erza reequips into one of her favored forms. Called Heaven’s Wheel Armor, it was a gorgeous steel dress with white wings and a circle of swords floating around her. It was one of her many armors which allowed her to truly fly.</p><p>She is followed by Natsu who was charging up his Iron Fist of the Fire Dragon and Gray who was supporting the two from the ground using his Ice-Make magic.  It was all very awe-inspiring the way they delivered the beatdown to one of the most feared creations of all time.</p><p>Lullaby has to yell some more and breaks a few hills before it at long last got serious. It takes a deep breath and begins sucking out the life from nearby plants, withering them into lifeless husks in seconds in preparation for its ultimate spell. The cheerful cheering of the guild masters tapers off as they stand watching in horror. They couldn’t flee – they wouldn’t be able to get away far enough in time to escape the range of the death-bringing song and save themselves. Meanwhile, Masa crosses his arms on his chest with an unhappy look on his face. He’d hoped to go down fighting, not like this, waiting for the inevitable, unable to do a thing.</p><p>Ready, Lullaby opens its grotesque mouth, hand clasped by its face and… nothing but wheezing comes out.</p><p>Masa blinks and releases a relieved laugh. Lullaby was made of wood, an inherently fragile material when faced with the full might of a Fairy Tail wizard. Erza’s, Natsu’s, and Gray’s attacks had created holes all over its body, and now it couldn’t play its song properly anymore.</p><p>“What’s with this noise?!” It cries in despair. “What happened to my beautiful sound?!”</p><p>In anger, the demon kicks down another row of hills. Soon, the formerly hilly area was going to become a flat prairie if no one stopped it from continuing destroying everything in its sight. Something makes it focus back on them again, and it sends a jet of Fire magic in their direction. Fortunately, Gray was there to save the panicking guild masters with a shield of ice shaped like flower petals, impressing them with his cast speed. Natsu arrives after him to swallow the remaining flames.</p><p>They observe as Erza attack Lullaby once more, clad in her Black Wing Armor – in appearance the complete opposite of her previous mail. Natsu assists her, powered up by his meal. He’s the one to make the final blow, throwing a giant ball of fire at Lullaby. It explodes amidst renewed cheering, sending a pillar of light into the dark evening sky, which then scatters into glittering flakes that drift down on everyone like snow.</p><p>Hands in his pockets, Masa calmly ambles towards his companions, relaxed now that the crisis was over. True, he didn’t do much. It would have bothered him several years earlier, but he had since come to terms with what he could and couldn’t do. Bringing a person back from the dead? That he could. Fighting ginormous monsters? He’ll give it a pass, thanks. His skills lay with healing, not in wide-scale destruction in contrast with the rest of Fairy Tail.</p><p>He stops to watch Erza chase after the escaping soul of their guild master along the edge of the crater that had formed where the meeting hall used to stand in barely concealed amusement. The poor man must have been thinking of the next pile of paperwork by the Magic Council will send.</p><p>“We need to go.” The Master whimpers. “Before anyone else sees this. They can’t know we were here.”</p><p>“Bit late for that, Master.” He replies with a growing smile. “Also, the trains shouldn’t be running for a while after Eisenwald’s take over Oshibana Station and Erza blew up the magic four-wheeler’s lacrima when she pushed it too hard. It was smoking pretty badly last I saw it.”</p><p>“We’ll walk.” The old man decides, and Masa’s mouth drops open in shock. He couldn’t be serious!</p><p>“Walk?! But that’ll take days!” Lucy protests.</p><p>“Then what are you waiting for? Go on.” Makarov encourages them, waving his hands in a shooing motion. “The longer you dilly-dally, the longer it’ll take. You’re young, in the midst of your strength. A little walk won’t hurt you.”</p>
<hr/><p>And that’s how they ended up lost in the Clover Canyon several days later. More specifically, the Web Valley, a place known for its innumerable fissures from an ancient earthquake and the many, many people who entered its arid lands only to be never seen again.</p><p>“I’m starving…” Natsu moans.</p><p>“Stop reminding me! It’s only making me hungrier!” Gray snarls back, and they are back at arguing with each other. A similar conversation between those two idiots happened every five minutes.</p><p>Erza attempts to intervene, but her stomach growls loudly instead.</p><p>Masa snickers and Lucy advances angrily on him. “You don’t look hungry! You’ve got food, don’t you?!”</p><p>He opens his mouth to reply, but his stomach growls even louder than Erza’s before he can get a word in, and he grins ruefully with a shrug. Yeah, he was starving.</p><p>Lucy huffs in frustration, turning away. “What use are your pockets if you don’t have food in them?” She grumbles under her breath.</p><p>Bandages, antibiotics, thread and needles, lacrima… He carried plenty of things that saw regular use in his cargo pants’ pockets, actually. It wasn’t his fault he was recruited into a mission before he could replenish his snacks.</p><p>“AH!” Happy gasps joyfully. “Natsu, look at that!”</p><p>Masa approaches the fissure the blue cat was pointing into and curiously leans over the edge to glance down. Whatever had Happy so excited must have been special.</p><p>“Flying fish?” He marvels at the giant blue and yellow fish with wings instead of fins. If those winged delicacies really lived in the depths of the Web Canyon it would explain why they were so rare they were considered legendary. According to Yajima, every self-respecting chef wanted to serve a Winged Fish at their table at least once in their life.</p><p>They produce fishing rods from Natsu’s bag and settle down to fish. It wasn’t one of Masa’s favorite activities, though it was a necessary one for many mages. They often found themselves in the wilderness where food was scarce, and the only option of surviving was either fishing or hunting.</p><p>Unfortunately, the Winged Fish prove to be wilier than they expected. Just when they think they hooked one, it’s gone.</p><p>“It’s like they are taunting us.” Masa complaints after another failure.  </p><p>Happy is, of course, the first to give up. However much he wanted to try one of the fishes, he didn’t have the willpower to sit there for hours.            </p><p>Eventually, they catch one. Natsu cooks it, and they unanimously agree to let Happy have it. He wanted it the most, it would make them hungrier if they spilt it, and considering the amount of time it took them to catch that single fish it simply wasn’t worth it fishing for more. They’d be there for days. Plus, it looked like they avoided eating something extremely gross since even Happy, the one who loved fish more than anything else, swore to never eat another Winged Fish for as long as he lived.</p><p>They get back on the road, walking into a randomly picked direction until by some chance they find a village.</p><p>Their delight in finding somewhere there could be food quickly cools.</p><p>The village had weird mushroom decorations all over the place, and more importantly, it was entirely empty. Not a single soul in sight. When no one replies to their cries, Masa separates from his companions to glance into one of the houses.</p><p>“How strange.” He murmurs. “The front door is unlocked, and the food laid out on the table is still warm.”</p><p>It looked like people were enjoying their lunch only seconds before he entered their abode, and yet it was empty of anyone.</p><p>He picks up a piece of bread and sniffs it carefully. Though it smelled and looked perfectly normal, and he was able to cure almost any kind of poison, some instinct had him put it back even as his stomach loudly protested.</p><p>When they had entered the village, he had spotted a nearby forest. It was bound to have something edible there, he decides, setting off toward it.</p><p>And it did. Although he didn’t spot any animals, it was full of various strange mushrooms, many of which he didn’t recognize.</p><p>“This is Master’s fault.” He laments, picking a particularly vivid pink specimen from the ground.</p><p>Masa contemplates the monstrosity in his hand – it had small blue dots on its cap, and its foot was red. For all he knew, it could kill him painfully. Or it could just make him ill for a while. Then there was the chance it could be perfectly safe. 50:50 really.</p><p>With a shrug, he bites into it.</p><p>Slowly, he chews, nose wrinkling in disgust. The texture, the flavor, everything was horrid. There were few things he hated more than mushrooms.</p><p>He spits out the half-chewed piece and drops the rest back into the grass. He wasn’t that desperate to eat just yet.</p><p>In the distance, he hears Natsu and Grey yelling at each other. He gets up from his crouch, and the world swims in front of his eyes. Masa takes a wobbly step, one arm reaching out to steady him against a tree trunk, the other glowing green with a Purge –</p><p>
  <em>“They’re here! Run, run!” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>His father is running in their direction, his sword drawn and already dripping precious red liquid down onto the hot sand. It wasn’t his. It couldn’t be his. He was the best swordsman in the entire clan. No one could defeat him. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Smoke is thick in the air and screams echoed from every direction. Masa’s heart thundered in his chest like the drums during Bonfire Night. He’s frozen stiff. No matter how much he begs his legs to move, they refuse to budge. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>There is a flash of silver, his father stumbles. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Daddy!” He lurches – </em>
</p><p>Must have been poisonous, after all –</p><p>
  <em>The ball spins high above their heads. For a short second, the sun blinds them, then it’s falling back down.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Masa moves, jumps and he’s the one holding the ball when he emerges from the wrestling pile of children.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“C’mon, throw!” Darima calls to him. His cheeks are rosy, and his eyes bright. (Pale skin, glassy eyes, dead)</em>
</p><p>
  <em>He tosses the toy, and it’s back to spinning high in the cloudless sky – </em>
</p><p>Hallucinogenic –</p><p>
  <em>“Magic is everywhere, boy. It is in you, it is in me. It is in the air, in the water, and in the ground. Birds have it, fish have it, pigs have it. Trees, flowers, grass. You must close your eyes, boy, and feel.” Instructs – </em>
</p><p>Wasn’t working –</p><p>
  <em>“They killed –”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“No way out –”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Think of the children –”</em>
</p><p>Why wasn’t it working –</p><p>
  <em>“The prince defeated the big scary dragon and rescued the princess. Together they returned home where they finally got married as they had promised so long ago on that clearing by the castle. It was a beautiful wedding full of magic and joy and absolutely everyone, from the royalty of nearby kingdoms to the poorest little children who didn’t have homes or parents, was invited –”</em>
</p><p>Maybe it was a magical mushroom –</p><p>
  <em>“Grandma Hama taught me some spells today.” He extends his hands towards the thin woman in the bed to show her the flickering green light that surrounded them. She had been a great beauty once with many suitors that came from far and wide, but time and sickness have taken their toll. “She says I’ll be better than her one day if I continue to work hard. She wants to make me her successor. Would that be okay, Mommy? I’d really like that. Maybe I’ll be the one to cure you.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The harsh scent of medicine tickles his nose, and he disregards it with practiced ease. The tent always smelled of bitter herbs nowadays. He almost didn’t notice it anymore. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Masa’s eyebrows furrow. “Mommy?” He asks worriedly. She never ignored him. Why wasn’t she answering? She couldn’t be sleeping; her eyes were open. “Mommy! Wake up! Wake –”</em>
</p><p>It hurt –</p><p>
  <em>Drums beat into the night. A large fire crackled in the middle of their circle. A song rises from a hundred throats in unison. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Like shooting stars, they come</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Burning bright, soaring high</em>
</p><p>
  <em>On wings of bone and scale</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Their call of death heard by all</em>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <em>To those wretched beasts of destruction</em>
</p><p>
  <em>No mercy we will show </em>
</p><p>
  <em>It is their time of reckoning </em>
</p><p>
  <em>The horns of war were blown </em>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <em>In this land where dragons rule</em>
</p><p>
  <em>A land we have defended </em>
</p><p>
  <em>With our fists, swords, and magic</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Spilling our blood for generations –” </em>
</p><p>It hurt so bad –</p><p>
  <em>His hands are permanently stained red. Never in a hundred years could he have imagined the battlefield would be like this. He wished, he wished… But he had a duty. Duty to his people, to his clan. His friends and family, they counted on him – </em>
</p><p>His head was splitting apart –</p><p>
  <em>“Did you hear? Some of them are fighting for us!”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Why?!”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Who knows what they’re thinking.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Masa turns – </em>
</p><p>PURGE! –</p><p>
  <em>A voice echoing in the dark of a cave. Fear pooling deep in his gut. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“You’ve caused us a lot of trouble, Healer. Luckily, that ends now.” – </em>
</p><p>He said PURGE!</p><p>There is an explosion of green light as Masa forcefully overloads himself with his magic.</p><p>He lowers his hand back down and takes a moment to just breathe. It wasn’t often he met something that could resist his healing like that. With his luck, he had probably picked the only magic resistant mushroom in the entire forest.</p><p>Finally, Masa coughs once and uncurls from the fetal position he had folded himself into in the roots of a tree. Trembling, he sits up, and he pulls his book out from the pocket he always kept it in before he frantically starts working. He had to do this before the memories faded from his mind. Before he forgot again.</p><p>His pencil flies across the blank pages, words and sketches forming underneath it. The pictures of the people and places he’s seen under the influence of the mushroom were drawn rough and quick, and he hoped he could later go back and fill them out properly. Nevertheless, as unfinished as they were, they were still exquisitely done.  Reedus had taught him well.</p><p>Eventually, he gets up and makes his way back to the village. The sky was starting to darken, and they should get back on the road If they wanted to get home sometime this century.</p><p>To his surprise, he doesn’t find his companions alone. Instead of waiting for him in the village as he had expected, they were standing in front of the main entrance, surrounded by a group of other wizards.</p><p>Masa frowns at the sight, guessing that he must have missed something again. This was becoming a regular occurrence, and he wasn’t liking it. Why was it always him who was left confused?</p><p>“What happened?” He asks once he was close enough to be heard without yelling.</p><p>“Masa!” Happy cries and attaches himself to his foot. “I was chased by a chair! No one would help me!”</p><p>He pauses incredulously, staring down at the blue cat. “Some kind of Animation magic?” He inquires hesitantly.</p><p>“The inhabitants here were a Dark Guild who summoned a monster and were Taken Over by it.” Lucy takes pity on him and explains. “That’s why there was no one in the village when we got here. The Magic Circle somehow broke and released them from its spell, so they turned back into humans.”</p><p>“Right.” He drawls and glances at the repentant dark wizards with a raised eyebrow. Whatever, it wasn’t his problem. “Are we going or what? The mushrooms here are inedible.”</p><p>“Did something happen?” Their Master asks, looking meaningfully at the notebook he was still clutching in his hand.</p><p>Masa shakes his head. “Nothing concrete. Bits and pieces like always.”</p><p>“Very well.” Makarov nods in understanding. “I’ll go over the new stuff with you later.”</p><p>“Yes, Master.” He agrees and steps back when the old man advances on the dark wizards who suddenly looked very worried for themselves.</p><p>Despite his tiny size, he loomed over the strangers as if he had taken his Giant form. “Now, who thinks those nice people here could point us the way back to Magnolia? Oh, and feed us while we’re at it!”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I don't own Fairy Tail.</p><p>Anything you recognize is from the manga or anime.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>As per habit, Masa wakes up with the sun. Stretching contently, grateful for the fact that his magic prevented him from having sore muscles, he luxuriates in the gentle feeling of the sunrays warming his naked skin. He had apparently forgotten to close the drapes on his windows when he came home late last night.</p><p>Because that’s what happens when someone makes you cross the entire Clover Canyon. You become so absolutely bloody exhausted you just barely remember to undress before falling into bed and ignore everything else.</p><p>It takes him almost five minutes to tumble out of the hammock that served him as a bed. Well, he called it a hammock. In reality, it was just a circular piece of wood hanging from the ceiling that he had filled with several dozen pillows of all shapes and sizes in lieu of a mattress. When he had first bought his little cottage, he hadn’t had enough money left for a proper bed, so he had jury-rigged the contraption since he had no wish to sleep on the floor. It worked, plus he got used to it, so he never actually got around getting a real frame.</p><p>The rest of his house was small, a one-story thing consisting of a kitchen, a single bathroom, and a living room/art studio. The attic became his bedroom from a lack of space. On the outside, the brick was covered almost completely in leafy, flowering vines and the garden was a multicolored mess. It was old but in good condition. He loved it.</p><p>Climbing down the rope ladder dangling from the attic’s trapdoor, Masa paddles barefooted to his bathroom and only deigns to open his eyes when he stands in front of the mirror to brush his teeth.</p><p>The sight that greets him is very much unlike the rest of the native Magnolia citizens. His skin was dark were theirs was pale, and his chest, arms, and back were covered in ancient tribal tattoos. His long white hair was twisted into dreadlocks with golden ornaments, and it had often been remarked that his hawk yellow eyes were rather intimidating. He stood taller than most too, not overly so, but enough to be among the largest in the guild. Elfman and Laxus might have been the only ones to beat him out in that department, though he was nowhere near as buff as either of them. In short, he stood out in a crowd. Master Makarov said he was likely a descendant of the famous desert-dwelling Dykuma tribe who had been thought to have gone extinct many years ago.</p><p>Breakfast – a simple omelet with a cup of sand coffee – is cooked and eaten in his tiny kitchen in his underwear. He lived alone in the forest and he had no immediate neighbors. The closest were Natsu and Happy who lived ten minutes away at a fast walk. Visitors were rare, so he was seldom disturbed that early in the morning.</p><p>It’s only after his daily dose of caffeine to wake himself up properly that Masa returns to his room to get dressed. Cargo pants whose pockets he refills with new snacks – lollypops – and more medical supplies, a tight tank top, steel-toed combat boots… his style was simple and utilitarian. On his wrists, he wore leather cuff bracelets – the right one was a single large piece with a watch and metal buckles, and on the left, he had a multitude of thinner braids. They were faded and scuffed, the metal tarnished. From his neck hung the guild symbol on a dark chain, as his guild mark was camouflaged among the other tattoos on his chest and most people didn’t notice it even when he took off his shirt. It was almost like fate that he had left a blank spot big enough to accommodate it when he had them done.</p><p>All in all, it was a nice, quiet morning. He had no urgent business and he felt like he deserved a break. Surely no one will mind if he spends a day off indulging in his hobbies?</p><p>Masa stops in his living room that acted more as an art studio – it didn’t even have a couch – and contemplates his two unfinished canvases standing on easels, thoughtfully worrying the crossed barbells piercing the top of his ear. One depicted the aftermath of a battle in the desert at dawn with cliffs rising in the distance. The other illustrated a group of shadowed people dancing around a fire under a starry night, also in the desert. Both images had come to him in his dreams and he’d been struck with an urge to draw them. More similar paintings lined the walls of his studio or leaned in stacks against them. A few were portraits of people like him; dark-skinned, white-haired, yellow-eyed. Dykuma tribesmen. All dressed in antiquated fashion.</p><p>Suddenly reminded of his hallucinations from the mushroom, he pulls out a barely started canvas of a woman from a pile of equally incomplete paintings. He had laid down the contours of her face and part of the landscape with charcoal and stopped there. Her image had faded in his mind and he couldn’t remember how she was supposed to look. But the mushroom incident had reminded him and he, fortunately, had time to finish sketching her portrait in pencil in his notebook before forgetting again.</p><p>He thinks he’ll name it – A Mother’s Goodbye. Because even sick and emaciated, her eyes looked up at him with such love from the paper it could have belonged only to a mother. He’ll have her standing on a dune looking back at the painting’s viewer with a sunset illuminating her. She’ll look healthy and she’ll be… wearing a simple white linen dress to enhance her beauty, yes. Not too much jewelry either, although it will be golden and reflecting the red sun.</p><p>It was going to be one of his best, he could already tell.</p><p>Masa had just laid out his brushes and had reached for the paints when Happy comes bursting through the largest of his living room’s windows.</p><p>“C’mon, Masa!” The blue cat calls. “You’re gonna be late!”</p><p>“Late to what?” He asks irritably, putting down his palette on the little side table beside his easel. There goes his day off doing nothing but painting.</p><p>“Natsu challenged Erza to a duel!” Happy makes an exited loop-the-loop near the ceiling.</p><p>Masa’s eyes close and he heaves a heavy sigh. “I’m not healing that idiot no matter how much he whines.”</p><hr/><p>Natsu and Erza’s fight had drawn a large crowd in the street in front of the Fairy Tail guild hall. They were all screaming and yelling and cheering for their favorite. Masa shoulders his way through them to join the other Fairy Tail members at the sidelines.</p><p>“They are going to destroy the street.” He warns dully, teeth clacking on his lollypop. Having run out of the candy three days into his last job, he’d been suffering from mild withdrawal during the entire Eisenwald and Clover Canyon adventure. It felt great to have one again and lifted his mood considerably.</p><p>“It’s going to be fine.” Macao waves off his concerns. “Erza will destroy Natsu before that happens.”</p><p>In a glow of light, Erza dons her Flame Empress Armor. It was a good choice, made for fighting against the strongest of flames.</p><p>“Can I bet on Erza, after all?” Happy asks Cana who was manning the betting pool after several long seconds of grave contemplation.</p><p>“What a loveless cat!” Lucy gasps. “Don’t you have any heart at all? I couldn’t do such a thing! I don’t want either of them to lose!”</p><p>Masa snickers, amused. The new girl had interesting reactions.</p><p>The fight begins and Natsu does surprisingly well. Meaning, he doesn’t get pounded into the ground immediately like he used to be as a kid. He spits out a couple jets of fire, Erza takes a few swings at him with her sword, a few spectators get burned, and just about when Masa is ready to set in for a good show and the two fighters were getting done with their warmup and becoming serious, a loud clap echoes in the street, drowning out all the other noise. Everyone freezes, turning to stare at the interrupter.</p><p>“That’s enough.” A frogman thing says in a high-pitched voice. “Everyone stay where you are. I am an emissary from the Council.”</p><p>“Bleugh,” Masa states, pulling his lollypop out of his mouth and sticking out his tongue in disgust thus conveying all his feelings on the Council in that simple sound.</p><p>“Why are they here?” Droy asks.</p><p>“We haven’t done nothing wrong!” Someone else calls out from the crowd. “This time.” That part was quieter.</p><p>“None of you are surprised by its appearance?!” Lucy is more interested in knowing.</p><p>“With charges of damaging property and elven other crimes committed during the Eisenwald terrorism incident the other day,” The frogman thing continues. “Erza Scarlet, you are hereby under arrest.”</p><p>“Wh-What?!” Natsu demands incredulously for all of them.</p><hr/><p>An hour later, everyone is sitting in the guildhall morosely staring into their drinks. Erza was gone, and Natsu was transformed into a lizard and trapped underneath an overturned glass to prevent him from going after her.</p><p>“I just have to tell them something! I don’t care if they are Council members or not, I know they’re wrong!” He was yelling, pounding with tiny fists against his transparent prison’s walls.</p><p>Masa rolls his eyes. “Then you’ll also be arrested without achieving anything and join Erza in her cell. Settle down, flamebrain.”</p><p>“Why now?” Elfman asks. “After everything we’ve done, why this incident?”</p><p>“There is <em>definitely</em> another side to this,” Lucy grumbles into the wooden table she was faceplanting in.</p><p>“There usually is, with the Council.” He agrees. Always with their own agenda and with no love lost for their guild…</p><p>They sit in silence – with occasional muffled shouts from Natsu – for another half an hour, Masa quietly mourning a day that was supposed to be restful for him.</p><p>“We can’t ignore this!” Lucy suddenly screams, jumping to her feet and slamming her hands against the table. Masa jolts in surprise and almost spills his drink. “Let’s go and testify for her!”</p><p>“Have patience.” Master Makarov says.</p><p>“How can you say that?” The Celestial Spirit Mage demands. “She was unlawfully arrested. We need to get there before she’s sentenced.”</p><p>“We’re already too late for that,” Masa informs her. “The Council have ways of traveling faster than normal. Erza was probably awaiting her trial in a cell five minutes after being arrested.”</p><p>“But…” Lucy deflates.</p><p>“There’s nothing we can do.” He says, pulling out a new lollypop. “We can only file for an appeal and hope for the best after the sentencing.”</p><p>Natsu restarts his temper tantrum. “Let me out! Let me out!”</p><p>Rubbing his aching head, Masa wonders what the hell he was thinking sitting down so close to the dragon slayer.</p><p>“Are you really sure you want out?” Master Makarov asks, and the sudden silence is startling. Masa and several others side-eye the lizard that looked oddly worried. “What’s the matter, Natsu? You’ve suddenly lost your spunk.”</p><p>With a grin, the old man reverses the transformation and Macao falls off the bar the glass prison had been standing on.</p><p>“Ah, <em>fuck</em>.” Masa summarizes the situation with feeling. “Natsu has been gone from the beginning, hasn’t he?”</p><p>Macao sheepishly rubs the back of his head. “Sorry, I was indebted to him.”</p><p>“Oh yeah,” He mutters, sucking on his candy. “we’re doomed.” The chair scrapes the floor loudly when he stands. “I’m gonna take a job, alright?” He calls to the Master. “I’ll be back when we won’t be in danger of being disbanded by the Council.”</p><hr/><p>“He got dressed in cobbled together out of barrels armor with a red wig and came bursting through the Council’s wall while yelling that he was the one to do it?” Masa repeats, trying not to die of laughter at the mental image of the faces the geezers of the Council had made when it had happened. To be fly on that wall…</p><p>“And that’s why you spent a week in prison?” Gray bangs on the table with his fist. He had tears streaming down his face, he was cackling so hard.</p><p>“That’s right,” Erza confirms. “The whole thing was supposed to be just a formality and I would have gotten off without punishment, but Natsu really enraged them.”</p><p>“I’m sorry…” Natsu sulks.   </p><p>“A formality?” Lucy complains. “I don’t understand.”</p><p>“The Council needed to demonstrate its ability to retain control of the order in Fiore.” Gray explains, calming down.  “Erza would have been found guilty of her charges, but not punished. She’d have gone home the very same day she was arrested.”</p><p>“I’m sorry…”</p><p>“What about your man-to-man battle with Erza, Natsu?” Elfman calls out from a nearby table.</p><p>Natsu immediately perks up. “Oh, yeah! Erza, let’s pick up where we left off!”</p><p>“Please, not in the building.” He groans. Master Makarov always made them fix it themselves whenever they destroyed it instead of hiring contractors and he hated construction jobs.</p><p>Hearing his plea, Erza lays Natsu down cold with one good punch to the stomach.</p><p>“Ow.” He winces despite himself at the show of sheer brutality.</p><p>While everyone was busy teasing the unconscious Fire Mage, a sudden wave of unnatural lethargy hits them. One by one, they drop to the ground in a deep sleep. The guildhall resonated with snores.</p><p>Masa’s hand sparkle and a good jolt of electricity to himself had him back in tired, but working order. “Damn it, Mystogan, is this really necessary every single time?” He protests around his lollypop, rubbing at his eyes. “We’re all friends here.”</p><p>The cloaked and masked man silently walks past and rips off a job from the Request Board, before stepping in front of their Master who was sitting as usual on the bar’s counter.</p><p>“Well, hello to you too,” Masa grouses and leans his head heavily on the hand that kept continuously shocking him awake.</p><p>“I’ll be back,” Mystogan says.</p><p>“Hold up!” The old man orders. “Lift the sleeping spell.”</p><p>“Five.”</p><p>Step.</p><p>“Four.”</p><p>Step.</p><p>“Three.”</p><p>Step.</p><p>“Two.”</p><p>Step.</p><p>“Drama queen!” Masa yells after him.</p><p>Mystogan lifts a hand in acknowledgment and disappears back the way he came.</p><p>“One.”</p><p>The guildhall fills with complaints against the S-class mage.</p><p>“Who’s he?” Lucy inquires sleepily.</p><p>“He’s in the running for strongest man in Fairy Tail.” Elfman introduces her.</p><p>“For whatever reason, he doesn’t want anyone to see him,” Gray adds. “He puts everyone to sleep whenever he takes a job. No one but Master knows what he looks like.”</p><p>“Are you serious?!” Lucy yelps. “That’s way suspicious!”</p><p>“I know what he looks like. So does Masa.” Laxus boasts from the second floor.</p><p>“Laxus Dreyar, another candidate for the strongest member. Master’s grandson.” Gray says for Lucy’s benefit, before turning towards Masa. “And how do you know?”<br/>He shrugs. “There’s a trick to the Sleep Magic.”</p><p>“Tell me.”</p><p>“Nope~.” He singsongs.</p><p>“Mystogan’s shy.” Laxus grins at the guild members gathered below him. “Don’t get too nosy.”</p><p>Natsu wakes up. “Laxus! Fight me.” He yells.</p><p>People chuckle at his simplemindedness.</p><p>“Erza just gave you a beat-down.” Gray reminds him.</p><p>“That’s right.” Laxus taunts. “You don’t stand a chance against me if you can’t even beat mere Erza.”</p><p>“What does <em>that</em> mean?” Erza growls, standing up.</p><p>Well, Laxus is not wrong per se… Erza is strong, but not at his level just yet. If she tries really, really hard she could beat him once in a blue moon…</p><p>“I mean that <em>I</em>’m the strongest.” Laxus grandly spreads open his arms.</p><p>Now that wasn’t true. There was the Master. And Gildarts. And maybe Mystogan, although so few people have ever seen him fight, no one knew what exactly that guy’s power levels were other than strong enough to be S-class.</p><p>“I’m surrounded by drama queens.” Masa exhales loudly.</p><p>Obviously, Natsu gets instantly offended by Laxus’ words. “Come down here, you jerk!”</p><p>“<em>You</em> come up.” Laxus retorts.</p><p>“Fine by me!” And promptly gets squashed by their Master’s giant fist.</p><p>“No one allowed on the second floor until they’re S-class!” The old man scolds.</p><p>“Got yourself in trouble.” Laxus jeers at Natsu.</p><p>“Why can’t we go up to the second floor?” Lucy wonders in an undertone to him.</p><p>“The Request Board there posts only S-class quests. They are more dangerous and can be fatal.” Masa explains nonchalantly, twirling his lollypop stick between his fingers. “There are only five people in our guild who are allowed by Master to take them.”</p><p>There is yelling in the background.</p><p>Lucy looks astonished. “Only five?”</p><p>“To give you an idea of the power it takes, Erza, Laxus, and Mystogan are among them, and neither Natsu nor Gray is.”</p><p>A wooden mug whizzes by behind Lucy’s head, smashing against Elfman.</p><p>“Wow…” The girl fingers her keys. “Do you think you’ll be an S-class mage someday?”</p><p>His nose wrinkles. “My magic’s weird. If you haven’t noticed, it’s not exactly combat-oriented and that’s what S-class jobs usually require.”</p><p>“That’s too bad…”</p><p>Laxus is laughing madly, and Gray and Natsu go rolling past on the floor, busy strangling each other.<br/>“Is it? I think the ability to save people is more important than being just another destruction causing moron.”</p><p>Mirajane accidentally overturns beer over his head, trying to avoid Wakaba’s lifeless body lying on the floor. “Oops! Sorry, Masa.”</p><p>He slicks back the dripping wet strands away from his face. “S’alright. I’m fine.” He turns to Lucy. “Hold your breaths. I’m knocking them out.”</p><hr/><p>When he gets home that evening – clean after a quick duck into the guild’s bathroom – Laxus is waiting for him by the front door. Spotting him walking up the cobblestone path, the blond steps up to him and takes his hand, lifting it to his lips in a parody of a kiss.</p><p>“Feed me.” He demands and Masa obediently makes lighting dance over his knuckles. Laxus’s eyes flutter close in pleasure as he inhales it. “As I thought,” He breathes. “yours the best.”</p><p>Scoffing, Masa yanks his hand back. “Is that all you’re here for?”<br/>The other man chuckles, lowering his hand. “You know I’m not.”</p><p>He heaves a sigh, unlocking his door. “Better come in, then. I’ve got it ready.”</p><p>Toeing off his boots in the front hall – he never understood people who wore dirty shoes indoors – Masa unnecessarily leads the way to the studio. Laxus had been at his house often enough to know it as well as his own. </p><p>“Still having nightmares?” The man asks, intently examining the newly completed and still drying painting of the battlefield with an appreciative smile.</p><p>Masa glances up from where he was rummaging through a pile of his larger canvases. “I never remember them. Anyway, tell me what you think?”</p><p>He spins the piece he was looking for around, revealing a painting of Evergreen. She was sitting elegantly on a throne of intertwined roots and flowers, dressed in a resplendent green dress fit for a queen with a sparkling crown on her head. At her shoulder stood Laxus himself and at the foot of the stairs leading to the throne Bickslow and Freed, all three dressed like knights. Kneeling in front was the backward figure of a fourth knight, this one red-headed and female.</p><p>“Ever will love this,” Laxus tells him. “She’ll hang it right where every single of her guests is guaranteed to see it.”</p><p>“Tell Evergreen I wish her a happy birthday too.” Pulling out a piece of torn fabric from a cupboard, he carefully wraps the present inside it to prevent it from being damaged.</p><p>Meanwhile, Laxus had wandered off to his kitchen and returned with a bottle of whiskey and a couple of tumblers. “Drinks?”</p><p>They relocate to the wrought iron table in the garden. The weather was nice, and fireflies were flitting among the flowers. Occasionally, an owl would hoot in the distance.</p><p>“Why do you have to antagonize everyone?” Masa asks after the second cup.</p><p>“It’s fun.” Laxus grins, showing off sharp canines. “They always get so riled up.”</p><p>There had a period of time after his father had been kicked out of the guild where Laxus had begun acting out and really considered the rest of his guildmates weaklings unworthy of his respect. Thankfully, Masa had been able to beat into his stubborn head that Ivan had been a horrible Fairy Tail mage and a worse parent. It took a lot of hard work and a lot of pain, but he’d been feeling responsible for the kid that had used to smile so brightly and easily, and that tended to follow him everywhere like a duckling because he always had candy on hand. In addition, he’d been the one to take care of him after Ivan had implanted the Dragon Lacrima into his body and almost killed him with that act.</p><hr/><p>“Masa, we have a mission!”</p><p>He jerks awake in his seat and a bottle totters off the side of the table to shatter on the cobblestone below.</p><p>“Who?” He mutters staring after the armored woman that had busted down the door of the little cottage and disappeared inside. Damn, his head was pounding and the yelling wasn’t helping.</p><p>“Check your notebook.” The big man beside him murmurs, lifting his head from where he had been cushioning it on his arms. He had a giant lightning bolt scar bisecting an eye. He also looked severely hungover.</p><p>“What notebook?”</p><p>“It should be in one of your pockets. You usually keep it there.” The man yawns. “I’m Laxus, by the way. That was Erza. You’re Masa Dykuma, Fairy Tail mage. You use Healing Magic. We’re friends.”</p><p>“Fairy Tale?” Okay, now he’s just even more confused. What the hell was going on?<br/>“Let’s go.” Erza? comes marching back out with a bag thrown over her shoulder. She grabs him by the shoulder and drags him along. “We have idiots to rescue.”</p><p>“Good luck.” Laxus waves after them.</p><p>Seriously, what the hell was going on?</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I don't own Fairy Tail. Anything you recognize is Mashima's.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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